ABSTRACT

In Chapter 2, a macro model of human performance was presented. In the constructed model, I noted that successful task performance is dependent on a number of highly varied system elements. As described in the chapter, performance is not only affected by a genetically and skill-influenced human phenotype (representing an organism’s observable trait characteristics), but also by varying features of the immediate task environment, all of which interact in a highly complex and interdependent manner. One key finding of Chapter 2 is that initial personnel selection is often a critical “predeterminer” of subsequent human performance (including the actual trainability of an individual). Additionally, failed human performance is sometimes more a function of a poorly designed and vulnerable work system than a supposedly fallible human being.